Client/Legal Alert: New Criminal Law, effective January 1, 2018

On June 20, 2017, the Vietnamese Congress passed Law No. 12/2017/QH14, amending, supplementing a number of articles of the Criminal Law 2015.

Among the many changes to Vietnamese Criminal Law, development in relation to the intellectual property are discussed below.

- The Law lays down “a willful attempt” in order to claim criminal liability in relation to copyright infringement.

- Instead of term 'commercial scale' of infringements of intellectual property rights, the Law specifies the concept of  'commercial scale' in a certain amount, such as illegally obtain profit/ or actual damage suffered by the IP right holder/ and or the value of infringing goods  

- Notably, commencing January 1, 2018, the Law governs  the  conditions  of  criminal  liability  of  legal  entities, criminal  sanctions  applied  against  legal  entities, and  criminal  procedure  in  which such sanctions are imposed.

The Law will be effective January 1, 2018.

Pham & Associates is a largest local intellectual property law firm in Vietnam. We provide counsel and representation in every area of patents, trademarks, copyrights, enforcement of intellectual property rights as well as their representation in arbitration and litigation proceedings etc. For further information about our organization and services, please visit our website: www.pham.com.vn